Constitutional Contempt

From Walter E. Williams' WorldNetDaily column today on contempt for the Constitution:

Here's the oath of office administered to members of the House and Senate: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." A similar oath is sworn to by the president and federal judges.

In each new Congress since 1995, Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act (HR 1359). The Act, which has yet to be enacted into law, reads: "Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress. The availability of this point of order does not affect any other available relief."

We BADLY need this law. While it probably wouldn't immediately curb unconstitutional legislation (because the the executive and judicial branches are also complicit), I believe it would help in that, even if liberals came up with some twisted, tortured constitutional basis for unconstitutional bills, such a weak foundation would be immediately identifiable and hopefully debated on the congressional floor. Lawbreaking (even among lawmakers) can often be prevented if they know their misdeeds will be exposed to the light of truth.

Any law that does not stem from specific, enumerated authority within the U.S. Constitution is an illegal law. As Williams points out, Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the power of the federal government, and the 10th Amendment further clarifies it's limited scope. James Madison elaborates on this limited scope in Federalist Paper #45, and both Madison and Thomas Jefferson have spoken to the limited authority of the "General Welfare" clause.

To introduce a law, and certainly to vote to approve a law outside the authority of the Constitution is to show contempt for the Constitution.

A government and a people who show contempt for their own highest law cannot expect to maintain a coherent civilization indefinitely.